I have been interviewed last month for the Open Society Foundations Blog on various topics related to digital use, online social interactions, digital divide, social networks and young adults in Southeastern Europe. I’m finding some interesting patterns that show what kinds of strategies policymakers should use to create and implement in education, government, etc.

Currently, I’m into data analysis, EDA, and writing, so you may not see me around that often. Check my Twitter updates and for the urgencies, comments, sharing, and caring feel free to email me.

[crossposting] Digital Serendipities in Southeastern Europe

As an Open Society Foundations Chevening scholar at the University of Oxford in 2009, and now as a PhD student at the Oxford Internet Institute, Danica Radovanovic focuses on the use of social new communication technologies in Southeastern Europe. Following her presentation on the “digital divide” in higher education at a recent Open Society Scholarship Programs conference for alumni from the Balkans, I spoke to Danica about the impact of online social interactions, especially in the Balkan region.

Why is it valuable to research online social trends, and how do you see your research contributing in that area?

It is important to understand and evaluate how people, markets, the economy and politics are moving from offline to online worlds and vice versa. I believe that research in social media and new communication technologies plays a crucial role in analyzing our society and in how these technologies could be deployed globally for other purposes, from education to crisis resolution.

We are witnessing a new stage in the Facebook and Twitter era, not only in official news reporting, but in global, real-world events. From revolutions in Egypt and Libya, recent livestream from the White House, natural disasters in Haiti and Japan, to more mundane news like about the music industry, are likely to be published first on micro-blogging sites and social networks. Therefore, researching current trends, and as well as attempting to predict, is crucial for world developments.

For your PhD, you are currently researching young people in Southeast Europe.  Are modes of conversation changing, and does this differ between countries, regions, or populations?

As my preliminary research data indicates, young adults in the Southeastern Europe and the Balkans do not differ in their communication practices from their peers elsewhere in the world. They are interested in the same things as the previous generations: they spend their time online and on social networks for very clear, understandable, social reasons.  They want to interact with their peers, friends from pre-existing networks, in everyday life and make new connections.

I’m exploring communication practices in the social web, with a particular focus on media and conversation practices. Networked culture is in permanent flux, and I’m interested in how digital media is embedded in a broader sociocultural and educational framework in countries in transition, where political, economic, and social turbulence has influenced culture and values, as well as the creation of the online public sphere.

Undoubtedly, higher education and social media are converging at considerable speeds, albeit with arguably differing results. What is your take on the current successes and failures from your research perspective?

From my research, I find all parties in higher education, that is, students, teachers, institutions, ministries, and governments, divided in two groups:techno optimists and techno pessimists. Teachers and students need to communicate and collaborate more. For example, students complained that professors don’t reply to their emails promptly, or they would like to see them more using blogs, wikis, social networks, and even Skype.

On the other side, traditional teachers and professors tend to stick to basic Internet services such as email or listservs, while younger professors and teaching assistants are more liberal and encouraging young adults to use such outlets as social bookmarking, web-based file sharing services, academic social networks, online databases, and e-learning software, which is promising. Of course, this varies from university to university, but in general, collaborative and participatory practices and the fostering of critical thinking skills are important for higher education in the Balkans, as in any region. I’m working on data analysis and planning qualitative research which will support the data from my current project. Hopefully I shall have more a detailed answer at that point!

However, for me, higher education institutions should create a local strategic development plan where the implementation of social media, 21st-century literacies, and the culture of communication and collaboration should be fostered and improved. It is very important that policy makers, educators, and the media realize that the Internet is yet another channel for communication and not an evil tool, but also not some magic wand that will solve all their problems.

Have you found any negative trends in embracing the virtual world?

Similar communication and behavioral practices could be spotted in Southeastern Europe with regard to the misuse of digital technologies. They are mostly connected with spending too much time online when one should be at work, a lack of critical thinking skills, differentiating true from false information on the Internet, a low attention span, privacy breaches, and so on.  Being “digital natives,” children nowadays first learn how to play computer games, but are often unable to question the credibility of information found online. Promoting and practicing information and digital literacy should be among the requirements for collaboration between schools and educational program developers.

All communication practices found in everyday life are mirrored online and magnified. It is worth mentioning that the culture of collaboration is not developed yet in Southeastern Europe, and it is important to design practices which would engage everyone.

What are your current plans and projects?  You have a blog—what is your aim with it on a personal level? What audience are you attempting to reach?

Blogging at Digital Serendipities is something I have done since 2003.  I write about technological adventures and moving between the offline to online world. It’s about people and connections in both worlds. My audience is wide: from Internet scholars and developers, social media people, marketing, media professionals, students, and anyone interested in technology, communications, and media.

In  the future, teaching could be an interesting and challenging opportunity since I have been a lecturer and instructor at the School of Web Journalism teaching Introduction to Web 2.0 and Online Social Networks. I’m glad when my former students send an email with their recent successes thanking me for motivation and teaching them some specific skill.

As a global citizen I’m interested in the next generation of web technologies, implemented not only in education but other areas as well, from collaborative web projects and platforms to emerging information and communication technologies markets.

Check out Danica’s website Digital Serendipities, and follow her on Twitter

For those who are in Oxford these days for parallel conferences that are happening around (TransferSummit/UK, BarCamp), I want to let you know that I’m giving a talk at the interdisciplinary conference  on ‘Problems of Adolescence”.

Oxford University Centre for the History of Childhood is organising one day event, this Saturday, 26 June 2010, at Magdalen college.  The speakers (the program)come from different backgrounds: anthropology, clinical psychology, history of education, science and medicine, childhood studies, and social sciences and Web (moi).

I will talk about Adolescents and the Web: in particular social network sites (SNS), and communication, social, dynamics and practices on Facebook. This will be very interesting event, and I’m thankful to, both, UK and overseas peers, OII colleagues, and friends who’ve shared some data (British stats and references), as I’ve been analysing teen profiles and came to interesting observations that I’ll share later on with you either through an article (text of talk or proceedings) or slides.

If you are around this Saturday, come and say Hi.

Wikipedia says that nomad is a Greek word νομάδες, nomádes, meaning “those who let pasture herds”, denoting communities of people who move from  one place to another, in other words a practice of continual movement with no fixed settlement. This rough definition implies to early communities of hunter-gatherers in Tibet or Siberia, but in industrial and information society it is a metaphor for aimless wandering, vagabonding from place to place. Modern nomads are high tech creators, frequent miles flyer’s, restless minds who have chosen nomadic way of life with no permanent residence, but rather moving from place to place. Either for work, education or personal reasons.

I didn’t think about this on deeper level, always took for granted when people would say: ah you’re world traveller, global nomad, as labeling in this context doesn’t mean much to me. And last night I had chat with an old colleague and friend residing in Amsterdam who recently returned from San Diego, California (one of the places I used to live) sharing the photos from the conference and time on the cliffs, as I was reminiscenting warm sunny winter Californian days from my studio in cold and foggy Oxford, when he said that we travellers, nomads never get bored. Which made me think: have I, by often travelling and changing place of living, working, studying, actually created in my subconsciousness denial not to be bored so I’d run for adventure, excitement, upgrading my knowledge and practice in work, meet new people, collaborate, search without the search, helping out where needed, being everywhere and nowhere? I assume a bit of all stated. And some more.

Which reminded me on one of my favourite novels – Baltasar and Blimunda, epic novel by Jose Saramago, where intuitive Blimunda who can see inside people, wanders for years for the search of millions of human “will” and together with soldier Baltasar in a quest of helping Bartolomeu, a renegade priest, to construct a flying machine. It all happens during inquisition time, in 18th century Portugal. We are living in 21st century where collaboration form of gathering inner “will” and building a flying machine is changed for gathering data and creating other forms of innovative endeavours where technomading is without the borders (even if it requires physical visa forms or paper) and individuum is free to move more than ever.

That provisory freedom may look for someone from aside as a great adventure, free spiritualism, carefreeness, but after years and years of global nomading, it becomes, in political, economical under threat to-become-insane-society, an urge to find a place or settle somewhere what would one call a base or a home. This apres nomading time was noticed even at our ancestors. Internet has gathered us into global tribe where many do practice global nomading online, but what about us who spend nights in hotels, waiting at the airports, celebrating important events in the air or conferences, out from family or friends?

I will return to this over and over, and maybe start writing somewhere my global travel notes (as I was suggested many times by my friends and family) and share them with you. This December and January is pretty full of travels and conferences [Englands, USA, Englands,  France?], everything is open. What is for sure is that I’m looking forward to sail the calm seas in the next period, looking for my future base. Encouraging news for the people in my country is visa-free system from December 19th, and is a reason plus for nomading around Europe, and beyond.

For those in UK, don’t miss this weeks’ OII forum on Relationships and the Internet, that will take place this Friday, 4 December at 10am, followed by the public panel at 4pm. The forum will gather researchers in the fields of social networking, online dating, practitioners from a growing and international relationship industry and policy-makers concerned with consumer protection and media literacy in a digital age. Taken from the background to the forum:

Research on the role of the Internet in meeting new people is an increasingly vital area of inquiry, and is illustrated by a burgeoning literature on such topics as online dating. However, the Internet may shape many other aspects of relationships beyond introducing individuals, such as in undermining or maintaining ongoing relationships, from courtship to marriage.

This forum will look at the state of the art of academic research on relationships and the Internet and how this research informs research on the social aspects of the Internet in general, such as issues of trust and identity. Cross-national and cross-cultural aspects will be addressed in ways that can illuminate general cross-cultural trends and responses shaping use of the Internet in building and maintaining relationships. The forum will draw out the connections between this research and such emerging issues of policy and practice as involved in efforts to foster a digital economy in Europe.

More about the speakers and the panel here.

Oxford Internet Institute (OII) blog introduced new student group photos and pages (pages to be updated), as the 2009/10 generation of DPhils settled in. Soon new bio pages will be posted at OII web site as well as blogs of us who want to maintain one, and I will inform you about the URLs.

This week we have two interesting professors visiting OII. Manuel Castells, OII Visiting Professor of Internet Studies, Research Professor, Open University of Catalonia, this Thursday, 22 October 2009, 4.30pm at Oxford University Press. Prof. Castells will give a lecture on The crisis of global capitalism: towards a new economic culture. More about this lecture here.

Another visit is professors’ Duncan Watts, principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research and professor of sociology at Columbia University. This lecture is set up for this Friday, 23 October 2009, 4pm, at Said Business School, and is more affiliated with my research: Using the Web to do Social Science.

Updates about future events at the Institute you can follow on my Twitter stream, and I’m looking forward to hear and meet with super interesting folks who are visiting Oxford this autumn/winter, sharing the ideas and knowledge and interacting.

First to let you know I am in Oxford, UK, at Oxford Internet Institute, having great time on my quest. This is info for all people, colleagues and friends who’ve been asking me in the last few weeks: In which part of the world are you know? I’m trying to get into academic mode and research, but I’ll write about this in my next post.

Few days ago I got email notice [as being lucky and talented blogger] for attending LeWeb’09 conference with the official blogger accreditation. I guess years and years of writing and blogging both here and on cooperative and science blogs mean something to organisers as I’m the chosen one to have accreditation and spend time this year on Real-Time Web. I hope intensive and demanding PhD programme and research won’t make me get into hermitting mode, but for your information this December in Paris these people will be talking and I have a chance to go and talk, network with them. Again, as being academic at this present moment – I hope I’ll find interesting content in the program.

Let me know if someone is also going to LeWeb’09 and this is discount code for those who want to attend, and I’m sharing with you: BLOG09, which is 10% off the ticket price to the conference.

“So, you can take the girl out of academia, but you can’t take the academia out of the girl, eh?”

Those were the words of a friend of mine after I announced the news. Well, guess who can has PhD scholarship?

Last year I applied for Oxford PhD scholarships for 2009-2010, and completely forgot about it. Then in the April I was told I was selected and invited for an interview. All happened very fast and unexpected. It began with a call from British Council and professors from Oxford, when I was asked to come in person to the interview (last minute call) to Belgrade. Since I reside in Rome, I had to take the first plane next morning and I appeared in the early afternoon as the last candidate to be interviewed for this great opportunity. Actually I was about not to go, because it seemed impossible to make it to Belgrade in such short time, but my UN supervisor was encouraging me to give it a try.

Shall I mention that the interview was more like great, nice interaction between professors and me, carefree chat on social networks and media since professor and BC representative wanted to know more about the usage of the social networks in Serbia and they were all ears when I started passionately to talk about Facebook. Anyway, at the end of the interview I was told I will know the final result soon. So I went back to Rome, and seven weeks ago (I know, I know – I was and I am very busy at work to announce this to all of you officially) good news came right into my inbox: the official email from the Oxford University. I was super-happy and ecstatic and wanted to keep this to myself to summarize my thoughts and to think about this very well, and also to talk to my closest ones, to consult with the allies, and with my UN supervisor.

As much as I was happy – I had a huge dilemma that I was not facing for the first time, to choose between two good things: research or work. There is an eternal battle in me between academic/research life and practical work. The thing is I am equally engaged into both -academia and practical work, and since it has been two years since my Master thesis – I found myself still writing papers, publishing, going to conferences, storing for my research I’ve been developing in my head, travelling over the Europe and the United States, soaking and exchanging information, getting inspired. All in between, I’ve been working on practical things, still creating and contributing to the interwebs, interacting with people, making connections.

I officially accepted the offer to spend school year at Oxford Internet Institute, to work on my PhD research, and to interact with supersmart people, including my mentor dr Hogan. w00t!!! Or shall I say Blimey! I couldn’t be any more pleased. Yes, this means I am going to start the end of my research and writing of PhD dissertation.

For those who don’t know [and I doubt that those of you reading this don't know – there is zero % that you didn’t hear for Oxford Internet Institute] – OII is the academic mecca for scholars, researchers, web creators, superb centre for the study of the social implications of the Internet. Going to OII will allow me to continue my PhD research that is focused on communication practices in virtual communities of the young adults in Serbia, especially focused on Facebook. Spending time at OII will bring me a productive, collaborative, inspiring environment in which I can accomplish my plan. Plus, there’s amazing work at OII concerning social web and media.

I am aware that PhD process is painful, but I strongly believe that knowledge is power. I wouldn’t be working on things I did in the past, and now for the UN on developing projects, which foster the technology, sharing of knowledge, web of science, semantic web, if I didn’t believe in them. Also, being surrounded with wonderful and supportive people, I am even more determined to start writing the dissertation and continue my research, because this is what I want. I realized that PhD is worth all the craziness around and inside the academia, as well as there are things that I can do with a PhD that aren’t academia.

The practice and work will keep me to the ground and sane as much as I can be – I won’t quit my UN job, this was one of the first issues I was concerned about, but luckily I have really fantastic supervisor, dr Keizer, who fully supports and encourages me. So, with all “blessings” I shall continue working on science and technology, semantic web project and return back to my research for the final dissertation. It sounds difficult and it is, but I am enjoying it and I see great benefits for my long-term goals.

I can’t wait to begin my research and writing, exploring, examining, publishing, interacting, soaking energy from experienced and smart people, that will inspire me to produce interesting ideas and the outcomes for the future projects and work. Also, I miss UK at some points, I have friends and colleagues there, and oh I love British countryside, and London is very near. I am aware about H1N1/09 virus, but I hope British people are working on it, and I’ll try to boost up my immune system. All in all, I am grateful for this great opportunity and for the all good people who supported me in this, and in general. I couldn’t be more happier. w00t!